STEWART-HAAS RACING
NASCAR Xfinity Series: Explore the Pocono Mountains 225
Date: July 22, 2023
Event: Explore the Pocono Mountains 225 (Round 19 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Pocono (Pa.) Raceway (2.5-mile triangle)
Format: 90 laps, broken into three stages (20 laps/20 laps/50 laps)
Note: Race extended two laps past its scheduled 90-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.
Race Winner: Austin Hill of Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Josh Berry of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Josh Berry of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)
SHR Race Finish:
● Riley Herbst (Started 21st / Finished 4th, Running, completed 92 of 92 laps)
● Cole Custer (Started 10th / Finished 33rd, Running, completed 87 of 92 laps)
SHR Points:
● Cole Custer (4th with 666 points, 85 out of first)
● Riley Herbst (11th with 493 points, 258 out of first)
SHR Notes:
● Herbst earned his fourth top-five of the season and his first top-five in four career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Pocono.
● This is Herbst’s second straight top-12 at Pocono. He finished 12th last July.
● Herbst’s fourth-place finish bettered his previous best finish at Pocono – ninth, earned in his first start at the track in June 2020.
● Herbst finished eighth in Stage 2 to earn three bonus points.
● Herbst led once for three laps increasing his laps led at Pocono to 7.
● Custer finished fifth in Stage 2 to earn six bonus points.
● Custer led once for two laps increasing his laps led at Pocono to 97.
Race Notes:
● Austin Hill won the Explore the Pocono Mountains 225 under caution to score his sixth career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, his fourth of the season, and his first at Pocono.
● There were six caution periods for a total of 21 laps.
● Twenty-three of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● John Hunter Nemechek remains the championship leader after Pocono with an 13-point advantage over second-place Hill.
Sound Bites:
“This top-five finish was big for the No. 98 Monster Energy team. We started 21st, obviously super deep in the field, and we just continued to work all day on our Ford Mustang. It was a big track position game, and everybody had their team trying to come up with the best strategy. We just had a great car, though. So, we capitalized on that, but I kind of beat myself up a little over the decision on what lane to choose on that final restart. I could’ve chosen bottom, but I just thought our tires were too old to hang with the leaders running on the bottom. We ultimately chose top and finished fourth. I think that’s what we needed after a few months of bad luck. I think we achieved the highest standards today.” – Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang
“Overall, I thought we had a solid Ford Mustang today. We were getting a little better with each run, and I guess it was just a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. We got turned on that restart, and sometimes it’s just not your day. But, our guys on the No. 00 Haas Automation team did a great job repairing the car and getting me back out there. We’ve got speed every weekend, so it’s just a matter of everything going right in a race. Today just wasn’t our day.” – Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the Henry 180 on Saturday, July 29 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The race begins at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
